Once upon a time there lived an old man and an old woman who
were very poor and had nothing at all to their name. And they kept getting poorer
and poorer till there was nothing left to eat in the house, not even bread,
Said the old man:

"Do bake us a bun, old woman! If you scrape out the flour-box
and sweep out the bin, you'll have enough flour."

So the old woman scraped out the flour-box and swept out the
bin, she made some dough and she shaped a little round bun out of it. She then
lit the oven, baked the bun and put it on the window sill to cool. But the bun
jumped out of the window and onto the bench outside, and from the bench onto
the ground, and away it rolled along the road!

On and on' it rolled, and it met a Rabbit coming toward it.

"I'm going to eat you up, Little Round Bun!" called
the Rabbit.

"Don't do that, Fleet-Feet, let me sing you a song instead,"
said Little Round Bun.

"All right, let's hear it!"
"Here it is!

"I was scraped from the flour-box
And swept from the bin
And baked in the oven
And cooled on the sill.
I ran away from Grandpa,
I ran away from Grandma,
And I'll run away from you, this minute I will!"

And off it rolled and away. By and by it met a Wolf coming toward
it.

"I'm going to eat you up, Little Round Bun!" called
the Wolf.

"Don't do that, Brother Wolf, let me sing you a song instead."

"All right, let's hear it!"

"I was scraped from the flour-box
And swept from the bin
And baked in the oven
And cooled on the sill.
I ran away from Grandpa,
I ran away from Grandma,
And I'll run away from you, this minute I will!"

"I was scraped from the flour-box
And swept from the bin
And baked in the oven
And cooled on the sill.
I ran away from Grandpa,
I ran away from Grandma,
And I'll run away from you, this minute I will!"

And away it rolled and away!

By and by it met a Fox coming toward it.

"I'm going to eat you up, Little Round Bun!" called
the Fox.

"Don't do that, Sister fox, I'll sing you a song instead."

"All right, let's hear it!"

"I was scraped from the flour-box
And swept from the bin
And baked in the oven
And cooled on the sill.
I ran away from Grandpa,
I ran away from Grandma,
And I'll run away from you, this minute I will!"